Sled.



D. E. RILEY & 0. D. POWELL SLED.

APPLIOA'IIOH rmzn um. 30, 1911.

1,053,876, Patented Feb. 18, 1913.

WITNESSES:

INVENTOkS Alforney UNITED STATES PATENT orrror.

DANIEL E. RILEY AND DAVIS POWELL, OF HOME, DISTRICT OF ALASKA.

SLED.

To all whom it may coacem Be it known that we, DANIEL E. RILEY and CARRIE DAvIs POWELL, of Nome, 1n the .District of Alaska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sleds; and we do" hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of our invention is to provide a motor driven sled which will be simple and inexpensive in construction and which may be readily used for transporting persons and freight. And a further object is to so mount the body on the runners as to lower the center of gravity and enable the runners to freely move on their bearings without interference from the body.

The invention will be hereinafter fully set forth anu particularly pointed out in the claim.

1n the accompanying drawings'Figure 1 is a view in side elevation. Fig. 2 is a plan view. Fig. 3 is a rear end view. Fig. 4 is a view of one of the anti-skidding plates. Fig. 5 is a transverse section thereof.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates the body, and 2 a housing thereon to accommodate passengers or freight, and this housing may be provided with a door and windows as shown. The frontbob-runners3 and the rear bob-runners 4 are located in line with each other and occupy vertical planes outside of the plane of the body and housing. The runners are pivotally connected to the body so as to be free to move vertically in their respective planes, and this enables the body and the housing to occupy a. comparatively low position. The front runners 3 are loosely mounted on stub-axles 5 which are held by vertical pivots to brackets 6 of the body. The two stubaxles have one a forwardly projecting arm 7 and the other a rearwardly projecting arm 8, both of which arms are connected by links 9 to oppositely projecting arms 10 of a steering shaft 12, the wheel 13 of which is located within convenient reach of the operator. The rear runners 4 are loosely mounted on a cross-rod 14 secured to the body. We have found that best results are obtained by hav- Specification of Letters Patent. 'Patented Feb, 18, 1913 Application filed September 30, 1911. Serial No. 652,115.

ing therear runners 4 of eater length than the front runners, the atter being easily shifted in steering the sled. All the runners are preferably connected to the body by chains or straps 15 which prevent them from dropping too far forward or from bobbing too great an extent.

Each of the. runners is provided with means to prevent skidding, and the means shown comprises in each instance a vertically-movable plate 16 pivotally secured at one end to the runner and projecting downwardly through a longitudinally-disposedslot therein, the free end of the plate, which is normally above the upper surface of the runner, being engaged by a heavy spring 17. These springs are of suflicient tension to insure the pivoted plates projecting each a short distance beneath the lower surface of its respective runner. Hence, in practice the several spring-pressed plates of the runners will slightly cut into the ice and thus prevent skidding. These plates are curved or rounded along their lower edges so that the sled may travel either forward or rearward without hindrance therefrom.

Any suitable means may be employed for propelling the sled, but we preferably locate within a suitable housing at the front of the body an engine, conventionally indicated at 18, for operating a rearwardly extended upwardly inclined propeller shaft 19 upon the rear end of which is mounted an aerial propeller 20.

We claim as our invention A sled comprising a body, front and rear bob-runners on opposite sides thereof, each runner being pivotally connected to the body, an engine mounted on the front end of the body, an aerial propeller at the rear end of the body, and a propeller shaft extending diagonally of the body and actuated by said engine.

In testimony whereof, we have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

Witnesses J. SPEED SMITH,

J. T. WATSON. I 

